


The Back of Beyond

by below_the_starry_clusters_bright



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-TRoS, TRoS Spoilers, seriously don't read this unless you want to be spoiled for the rise of skywalker, tags are inside
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21876115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/below_the_starry_clusters_bright/pseuds/below_the_starry_clusters_bright
Summary: If you've seen The Rise of Skywalker, you know why I'm writing this.If you haven't and you don't want to be spoiled, please come back after you've seen the film.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 28
Kudos: 165





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> What's up, I'm taking the retcon crown from JJ.
> 
> Tags: fix-it fic; Ben lives (eventually); Reylo happy ever after; appearances from the Skywalkers (the real ones); I side-eye most if not all of the choices made in TRoS.
> 
> The first chapter deals with Ben's death. Next chapter out soon. Thank you for reading and sharing in my pain.

Ben died feeling warm.

The scholar in him was fascinated by this. All warmth should have drained from his body the way his life force had, sapped by his determination to resurrect Rey at all costs. He’d felt his strength fading and his vision growing dimmer, but not for one single second had he been cold.

The romantic in him wasn’t surprised at all. How could he have felt anything else in the glow of Rey’s grin? She was salvation in a smile.

He hadn’t let himself expect a kiss. Just holding Rey, feeling her alive and safe in his arms, would have been enough. Even when her gaze had dropped to his lips and she’d leaned in, achingly slowly, Ben held still. What he’d once threatened to take ( _“Whatever I want”_ ) he now needed to be given.

That nobility had faded with the first press of Rey’s lips against his. His hands tightened around her and he pulled her into him. United, at last. The Force sang around them like a balm in the most desolate of places. The lair was a grim place, marked with evil despite Rey’s victory over Palpatine. Ben didn’t regret a single moment of what happened on Exegol, but he did know that Rey deserved to be kissed in sunlight that would pick out the light in her eyes and catch individual strands of her hair. Even so, for the first time in Ben’s life, he hadn’t wanted to be anywhere else. The galaxy had aligned to grant him – them – this one perfect moment.

But he knew what waited for him on the other side of their too-brief kiss. The happiness springing in his chest was almost enough to convince him that it was okay. That it was his time, that he didn’t need anything else. His death would have meaning. He would have died a thousand times, in the worst ways, if it meant Rey could live.

Ben spent his final few moments memorizing Rey’s face. The freckles that dusted her skin. The tiny scar on her cheek. The smile so wide it looked like it might split her face. Every second he’d ever spent in her presence without making her smile had been wasted. Force, he would have spent the rest of his life apologizing for every tear he’d made her cry. But the rest of his life was down to single-digit moments, so instead he smiled back. His breathless little laugh brushed across Rey’s skin.

_I want to stay_ , he thought.

The last of his energy dimmed. His hands slackened and dropped. Ben focused on Rey’s slim fingers winding through his, gripping him with all the strength he had given to her. Finally taking his hand. Her love shone, lighting him from within.

Ben died feeling warm.

* * *

Ben wakes feeling nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

Ben squints against the harshness of a sun he cannot feel. A flat desert stretches out around him. Heat rises from the sand in a thick haze. Wherever he is, he isn’t alarmed. Nothing will harm him while he’s here. The Force hangs in every particle around him, soothing him into an almost tranquilized state. There’s nothing for miles but a small, domed structure behind him and what look like tall metal poles sticking out of the ground. Grime covers the structure’s lower curve but it seems sturdy enough.

Ben takes a step towards it before realizing how easily he moves. He’d scraped himself bloody climbing out of the pit, but now his skin is unmarred. Whatever pain he’d felt has gone. Whatever happiness, too, although that seems to be an effect of the Force dampening his emotions.

He considers his next move. Even as a Jedi, he’d never put much stock in religion. He should probably rethink his stance now that he’s apparently standing in the afterlife. Purgatory is the best he could have hoped for given his years of servitude to the Dark Side. At least he isn’t on fire. As long as Rey is okay, he can accept this.

Ben watches a small rodent scurry from small patch of shade to the next. He almost misses the ripples of the Force around him until a voice rings, low and clear, across the desert.

“Of course we’re _here_.” A disgruntled sigh, and then, “I really hate this place.”

Ben turns. Standing by his side is a young man he has never met, but instinctively knows. He’s tall and broad-shouldered, with copper hair and a scar running down the side of his face. Some of the constricting Force around them eases. Ben’s first flicker of emotion since arriving here is an uptick of confusion.

“Grandfather?”

Anakin Skywalker nods once. His smile, though soft, holds decades of sorrow.

“Hello, Ben. You’ve had quite the day.”

Ben can’t argue. He’s had days, and he’s had Days. This has been a Day.

“Where am I?” he asks.

“You’re in a Force nexus.” Anakin looks around disdainfully. This doesn’t answer Ben’s question, but his grandfather is already speaking again. “If we shifted the galaxy an inch to the left, you’d be in the real Tatooine. Instead, the Force chose to put you in what’s essentially a simulation.”

A lot of questions rise from what Ben hoped would have been a simple answer. None of them seem particularly pressing in his numbed state.

“Why?”

“The Force isn’t sure what to do with you just yet. It’s thinking about letting you rest.” Anakin’s gaze lingers on the places where Ben’s wounds had been. “Tell me, what do you feel?”

Ben takes stock of himself again.

“Nothing,” he answers truthfully.

Anakin nods, like he’d been expecting this answer. Ben purses his lips. This has not been an enlightening conversation.

“Am I dead?” he asks. It’s a foolish thing to ask, given that he felt himself die and is now speaking with a long-passed relative, but he needs some clarification.

“For now.” Anakin inclines his head. “If that’s what you choose.”

Ben still feels oddly detached. A chance to go back would be nice, but here is fine, too. He’s done what he set out to do in saving Rey. Before he can ask his grandfather to elaborate, Anakin places a hand on Ben’s arm. Ben doesn’t feel its weight. Despite the lines of grief etched into Anakin’s face, he only feels a passing sadness for him.

“Ben,” Anakin murmurs. “I’m sorry I couldn’t reach you as you were growing up. I tried, more times than I could count. Palpatine always blocked me.”

A memory breaks into Ben’s mind.

_I have been every voice inside your head_.

Ben – Kylo, then, still scrabbling for the Darkness he could already feel ebbing – had refused to let the implications of Palpatine’s rasp sink in. He’d tried desperately to convince himself that the past didn’t matter, that everything had served to lead him to his position of Supreme Ruler. It didn’t matter that he had been lied to, manipulated, betrayed. The ends justified the means. It was the same lie he told himself, and Rey, when he vowed to find her and turn her to the Dark Side.

He hadn’t thought he’d be able to turn her then. Now, knowing the radiance of her smile, he realizes it would have been a crime to deprive the galaxy of her Light.

“I thought I was talking to you,” Ben mumbles. “All my life, I heard you encouraging me.”

Anakin’s fingers tightened. It might be a figment of Ben’s imagination, but he thinks he can feel the ghost of a grip.

“It pained me to see you make my mistakes,” Anakin said, shaking his head. “To know that I could have helped you if only I had been strong enough to get through. I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter now.” Ben probably should have said something more comforting, but he’s got a feeling that that’s less to do with the nexus’ dampening effects on his emotions and more to do with his complete lack of social grace. “Everything happened as it needed to. Palpatine is gone and Rey is alive.”

The shadows in Anakin’s eyes fade.

“Rey called on the Jedi, and for the first time I could answer,” he says, his voice hushed. “I lent my voice to a chorus of power.” He drops his hand away. Ben swears he misses the warmth of the light touch once it’s gone. Then Anakin grins, seeming more like a man and less of a myth. “She’s really something.”

“Is she alright?” Ben asks, rather than question his growing connection to his surroundings.

“Thanks to you.” Anakin’s lips lift into a smirk. “That was a very Skywalker thing you did. We don’t know how to love quietly. There always needs to be some grand declaration, some huge gesture.” He shakes his head, almost teasing. “Did you ever try asking her out for a cup of caf first?”

Ben feels enough to know he should be sheepish. “I…asked her to rule the galaxy with me.”

Anakin’s laughter rings across the desert. Ben tenses, ready to be mocked, but his grandfather’s laugh fades into a rueful smile.

“I wish I could say I didn’t understand the impulse.” Whatever thought flickers across his mind settles into the creases of his brow. “She’s going to settle here.”

“ _Tatooine_? Why?” Ben shakes his head, perplexed. “She loves forests and jungles, not…”

He looks around. Aside from the occasional scuffling creature, the desert is lifeless. Such a still place wouldn’t suit Rey, who has always struck Ben as _quick_. Quick to move, to fight, anger, to love, to cry, to forgive. A sedentary life could never make her happy.

“She’s lost.” A lifetime of unhappiness reflects in Anakin’s eyes as he stares around his loathed home planet. “I don’t claim to know her thoughts, or much of the future beyond what she’ll make of her life here, but it seems like her plans are in ruins. She intended to leave Palpatine’s lair with you by her side.”

“Yeah, that was on my wish-list, too.”

Ben had meant the words as a wry, throwaway comment, but Anakin’s eyes snap back onto his with a new intensity.

“Do you want to go back?” he asks, as though he’s unearthed a revelation. “You’ve had a difficult life, and a noble end. No one would blame you if you chose to rest.”

In lieu of an answer, Rey’s smile forms in Ben’s mind. He supposes that’s its own kind of answer.

“I want to be with Rey,” he says. “I want the future that was denied to us.”

When his grandfather’s hand claps his shoulder, Ben feels it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anakin has a planakin.
> 
> Thank you for your lovely comments, kudos, and bookmarks. I'm sorry you're all so disappointed by TRoS, but there's been such a wave of amazing fix-it fics in our wonderfully talented fandom that I hope you feel comforted.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for the wait. To be honest, I felt really demotivated by TRoS and what it did to the characters that we love so much. I wanted to wrap myself in something other than fix-it fics, because they only reminded me that we had something to fix. Anyway, here's a very tiny chapter. The next chapter is written and will update later today or tomorrow. The last chapter is currently being written. Thank you for your lovely kudos, comments, and bookmarks!

* * *

Rey doesn’t breathe a word about Ben Solo to her friends.

Her silence makes her feel guilty at first. The galaxy deserves to know the truth of the last Skywalker, who lost his way for so long only to find it again when it mattered the most. But Rey doesn’t know how to talk about Ben without it loosening the dam inside her chest she’s trying so hard to fortify. If she tells anyone about how redemption had led him to make brave and ultimately fateful choices, she worries she won’t stop speaking in time to tell them about the tightness of Ben’s grip on the back of her neck, the wonder in his gaze, the softness of his lips. All of these things feel as though they deserve to be memorialized.

There are people who turn agony into art. Rey isn’t a poet or a singer. She can’t do much with her pain aside from cry it out. Even then, the wound opens up every morning like a few measly hours of restless sleep had revitalized it. Talking about her grief could help, if only she wouldn’t have had to wade through months of context first. Once the truth of her bond with the enemy is revealed, no one would want to focus on soothing her pain anymore. There would be outrage, betrayal, accusations. Finn would probably never look at her the same way again.

No, there was only person she’d ever wanted to could talk to when things seemed this bleak, and…well.

Her life on Jakku showed a path of sand and hunger, with the nebulous promise of a family somewhere down the line if only she was patient enough. That path has shuttered forever, along with whatever hopes she had built around Ben.

That’s part of the reason she goes to Tatooine. Rey has some vague thoughts that seeing the place where everything began might show her how things can end now. But instead of resolution, all she finds is sand and loneliness. The same as ever.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your comments, kudos, and bookmarks! <3

* * *

In the space of a blink, Ben is surrounded by an unearthly blue glow. His instincts, dampened in whatever pocket of the Force this is, lift their head warily. He freezes when he sees his family gazing back at him. Their presence banishes the last of the numbness inside his soul. He _feels_ , and all at once wishes he didn’t. There’s pain, anger, regret, confusion, all swirling like a maelstrom.

“Always so hurt,” his mother murmurs with a sad smile. “Oh, my boy.”

“Mom,” Ben says, his throat dry. Through prickling eyes, he looks at the other Force ghosts. “Luke.”

“Hey, kid.”

Awkwardness lingers in the space between them. There’s forgiveness needing to be meted out and received on both sides, but Ben still isn’t sure that he’s ready to grant Luke absolution.

“Oh, for heavens’ sake,” Leia says, breaking the moment with the bluster Ben had almost forgotten about. “This is your last chance to say something, Luke. Better make it pretty.”

“Farm boys aren’t known for their poetry,” Luke tells his sister archly.

“But Jedi are known for their compassion. You chose your path long ago.”

Ben seems to be the only one surprised by the disembodied voice. There’s a faint shimmer in the desert air before him. He recognizes the old man who appears from Empire archives.

Obi-Wan Kenobi. His namesake.

Ben should relish the look of mild disapproval Obi-Wan sends to Luke, but the reality of his family’s past laid out before him robs him of speech. All of their choices dictated Ben’s life – and death – before he had even been born. It’s overwhelming to face destiny and have it bicker in front of you.

Obi-Wan’s gaze softens as he turns to Ben. Some unknown humor quirks his lips.

“You have so much of your grandfather in you,” he says.

Ben’s breath catches in his throat. For the first time, it doesn’t sound like an accusation. Instead, there’s a fondness in the old man’s tone. When he casts a look at Anakin, they share a wordless smile. Ben wonders at how they came to this place of acceptance. It’s easy to lose the memory of a brotherly bond to the horror that came after, but both men seem at peace.

“I see your grandmother, too,” Obi-Wan continues, focusing back on Ben. Or, more accurately, at the hole in his sweater. “She would have been appalled at your attire.”

“Yeah.” Ben clears his throat. “Uh, Rey sort of… stabbed me.”

Silence greets his words. Ben tries not to groan. Why did he say that. Why, even in death, is he like this.

“I’m not surprised,” Luke huffs, arching an eyebrow at his sister. “That girl’s got darkness in her.”

“We both do,” Ben says, defensive. He glowers at each ghost in turn. “We _all_ do.”

Only when he meets his mother’s eyes does he let his anger fade. No matter how justified his rage, it had never led him anywhere good. He’s exhausted from carrying it around.

“Ben.”

Leia crosses the sand and stops before him. His throat tightening, Ben lowers his head to compensate for the height difference. His mother’s fingertips are soft and warm against his cheek. Ben closes his eyes and lets a tear slip through. He thought he’d lost her love forever, but it feels just as warm and encompassing as it had when he was a child.

“Some mistakes are too great to be excused by words.” Leia strokes a soothing pattern against his skin. “You were born into our war, Ben. We should have been there to help you fight it.”

“Let us give you the chance you never had.” Luke steps forward and places a hand on his sister’s shoulder.

“A thank you,” Obi-Wan adds, gripping Luke’s elbow, “and an apology.”

Anakin steps back as the air ripples. The regret etched into his brow softens into resolution as the ghosts of Jedi past materialize. One by one, they join the spiral growing outwards from Ben. They nod or smile at him. A few offer words of encouragement or apology. Ben can only nod back numbly. Some he knows by name, others he couldn’t guess at. He only senses their connection to the Skywalker family, through loyalty or love. Ben swallows back tears. He has never been alone; he understands that now.

Finally, once the last of the Jedi have grasped hands, Anakin joins the end of the chain. He offers a small smile to a female Togruta as he rests a hand on her shoulder.

The air hums with power. Ben’s eyes widen as he understands what the Jedi mean to do.

“Our family’s journey began here,” Anakin tells Ben, visible in the gaps of the spiral. “Think of Tatooine as a facilitator for destiny. It’s where I met the Jedi. It’s where your uncle met Obi-Wan. Let it be where you meet Rey again, and then let it be the first stepping stone you crush beneath your heel on your way to a new life.”

Ben should be elated. And there is a large part of him that’s desperate to see Rey again, to live out the life they should have had. But beneath all that, there’s a sense of panic. He isn’t ready to say goodbye to his mother. He has a decade to apologize for, and what feels like seconds in which to do it.

His gaze finds his mother’s. Leia smiles, as though she already knows what he’ll say. Ben leans his cheek into her fingers, determined to memorize the feeling of being loved like this.

“Mom…” he whispers.

Leia shakes her head. “Don’t be afraid.”

It’s the tone she soothed him with as a toddler. They’re the words she used to say goodbye to him as he left for Luke’s academy. Now, it’s the blessing she sends him as a final goodbye. Ben’s tears trickle down her wrist.

“I’m sorry,” he says.

The words are simple. Too simple, probably, to cover the magnitude of everything he has done. Still, his mother’s eyes glisten as though he’d offered her the galaxy.

“I forgive you. I hope you can forgive me, too.”

“Of course,” Ben chokes out. “Of course.”

He knows he’ll spend the rest of his life making up for his choices, but Leia’s nod feels like a solid step forward on the path to absolution. He’s still anxious, but now determination weaves into his heart. He will make himself worthy of the sacrifice the Jedi are about to provide.

“That’s the curse of the Skywalkers.” Anakin’s voice rises over the crowd and settles over Ben. He gives a rueful flicker of a smile. “We feel everything too much.”

Before Ben can object to that, Obi-Wan shifts. He sighs like a man coming to peace.

“It’s time,” he murmurs.

As one, the Jedi straighten.

Ben turns to his mother, only to see her sparing one last look at him. Distantly, Ben thinks that he has never seen her look so serene.

“May the Force be with you.” Her palm rests more firmly against Ben’s cheek. “Always.”

She closes her eyes.

And then, the Force.

Ben senses a power purer than anything he has experienced before, Light or Dark. It emanates from his grandfather and travels through the Jedi, gaining momentum and might. Although he wants to keep watching his mother, Ben meets the gaze of each Jedi in turn, acknowledging and thanking them for what they are giving him. The ghosts fade from view as the Force drains from them, leaving behind only shifting sand where they once stood.

Ben still feels a trace of reluctance to shift his eyes from Obi-Wan to Luke. Luke meets his gaze readily. An unspoken thing passes between them, closer to acceptance than forgiveness, but it’s enough. Ben feels neither sadness nor fierce joy to watch his uncle fade away.

Finally, he looks back at his mother. She shines, resplendent with power. He feels her love even without words. She is the final step in the plan, and not once does she falter under the weight. The Force flows from her and into Ben.

It feels like dying.

It feels like life.

From one breath to the next, Ben stands alone.

And then –

– he’s flat on his back on an unforgiving surface. The sun beats down on him. The serenity of the nexus has been replaced with air so thick and cloying that he groans. Everything is hot, and bright, and his entire body _aches_. He cracks open an eyelid, disoriented.

It hurts like hell to scramble to his feet, but it’s easy to block out the protests of his body when his mind is screaming victory so much louder.

He’s alive.

He’s on Tatooine.

And, somewhere, so is Rey.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! <3

Tatooine isn’t so bad, Rey tells herself for the fourth time that morning.

It’s a lot like Jakku, really, and she’d survived that just fine. Here she doesn’t even have to scavenge for food, or be subjected to Unkar Plutt’s ever-shifting rate for rations. The Resistance sends her money, but so far she’s left it languishing in an account. She isn’t employed by them and she doesn’t need their charity. Instead, she earns a small living by putting her engineering skills to use. There isn’t much work to be had, to be honest, but that’s alright. She doesn’t have anything to spend money on anyway.

Rey trudges back from the morning market like she does three times a week. She doesn’t need anything from there, but it’s always good to get away from the homestead. Besides, she likes to make sure she’s stocked up on ration packs. You never know when…

Well, you just never know.

She groans as the Lars homestead comes into view. Someone stands by the domed structure above the place she’s adopted as home. Rey summons her patience. The residents of Tatooine mostly leave her alone, but there have been some curious visitors around to ask if she’s really a Jedi, or really a Skywalker.

_No and no,_ she thinks. _But I’ll tell you I am because I’m tired of being No One._

Rey falters as she draws closer. She can’t see the man well, not at this angle. His features are in profile while the sunlight glows around him, bathing him in light. Still, didn’t she recognize the slope of his nose? Couldn’t she see his height and strong build anywhere and instantly know who it was?

_Stop it,_ she scolds. _Stop torturing yourself. Stop lying._

Then the stranger turns to face her, and Rey’s heart stops.

He looks… just like …

“Ben?” she whispers.

The man (/stranger/lover) smiles.

_No, no, this is too much._ This is cruel, even by the standards Rey has come to view the galaxy. She already spends every night dreaming about Ben. Now she has to hallucinate him in her waking hours, too? He’s smiling at her with that same wonderful grin that had made his eyes crinkle and her heart soar. Her memory has crafted it perfectly, she’ll give herself that.

The vision walks towards her. The sand shifts beneath his feet, just like it would if he was really here. Sweat beads at his brow, as though he feels every inch of the baking heat. When he stops in front of her, Rey notes the minute details of his fraying sweater. It even still has the hole in it, from when she’d stabbed him.

Her eyes shift upwards to his face. His gaze sweeps her features like he’s trying to convince himself that she’s really here. How could her mind have made up so many small realities? Rey’s mouth goes dry. She doesn’t want to speak in case it shatters the illusion, but a tiny spark of hope gives her a voice.

“Are you…?”

_Here? Real? Mine?_

She reaches out a tentative hand, intent on grazing it against the soft material of his sweater. Instead, Ben raises his own hand out to meet hers. His fingers brush against hers, warm and alive. The sensation jolts through Rey, the same way it had back in Ahch-To what feels like a lifetime ago. She grips him like he’ll be yanked away at any moment. She’s shaking, but she doesn’t realize it until she watches his hand tremor.

Ben’s breathing grows louder, less even. He looks at her with the same yearning softness she sees in her dreams.

“Rey.”

That single syllable, little more than a breath, breaks her. She doesn’t care if this isn’t real, or if he’ll disappear again. She just needs him. Rey launches herself forwards, trusting him to catch her. Ben staggers but crushes her against his chest as she sobs into his hair.

“Careful, sweetheart.” His pained laugh is warm against her ear. “Still a little delicate.”

Rey’s attempts to be gentle are still bone-crushing. She can’t let him go, not now that he’s here again. He still smells the same, and his voice? His face? Rey curses every single second he spent hiding behind a mask.

“I missed you,” she mumbles, the movement of her lips grazing his ear.

Ben holds her tighter. “We’re together now.”

It sounds like a promise, even if Rey can’t bring herself to hold him to it. It hadn’t been his choice to leave the first time, either.

Ben sets her down, achingly slowly. He keeps his arms around her, like he’s driven to keep touching her. Rey understands. As long as she feels his skin against hers, she can convince herself that he’s here to stay.

There are thousands of things that need to be said, but Rey seals them all behind the lips she presses against Ben’s. He kisses her back, the pair of them unpracticed but eager. The Force moves around them, seeping into every speck of sand and between every hitched breath. It bestows an apology and a blessing. Rey blocks it out. It might feel like she has all the time in the world with Ben, but that’s what she’d thought last time. She doesn’t trust this latest victory. Doubt only heightens their second kiss, leaving them both panting when they finally break apart.

“What are you doing here, Rey?” Ben murmurs against her lips. “Tatooine? No. You deserve forests.”

Rey shakes her head. _Deserve_. It’s such a useless word. A two-syllable waste of breath. If people got what they deserved, the galaxy would look far, far different.

“I’ll plant you a forest,” Ben decides, brushing his nose against her cheek. “It might take awhile in all this sand, but I’ll find a way.”

Rey’s grin bursts into a laugh.

“Or we could cheat and go to a ready-made forest,” she suggests. “I’m sure there are one or two out there…”

She looks at the sky exaggeratedly. When her gaze lands back on Ben, he’s watching her closely. A small smile touches the corners of his mouth, light enough that a single word could blow it away.

“You’d leave with me?” he asks.

Rey nods. “I’d go anywhere with you.”

Ben kisses her again, forceful enough that she might have lost her balance had she not gripped his arms. Rey wonders how many kisses it will take to drown out the memory of their first one. Finding out won’t be a hardship, not as long as Ben holds her tightly and makes that small groan in the back of his throat.

Finally, he pulls back. His smile eclipses everything around them. Slowly, Rey feels her broken heart start to piece back together. Ben takes her hand and drops a kiss on the rough skin there.

“Then what are we waiting for?” he asks.

Rey tightens her fingers around his.

Together, they take their first steps into a weightless future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Come say hello on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/starry_clusters)


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